When the dark, damp autumn nights creep in, it’s the perfect time to crack open a magical high fantasy novel or romantasy that will transport you to otherworldly realms. As a Dragon Slayer, you live for high-stakes battle, shadowy courts and spellbinding romance. That's exactly what our editors and book lovers have delivered.
Discover the season's most anticipated new fantasy books, perfect for fans of master storytellers like Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, Brandon Sanderson, Leigh Bardugo and Travis Baldree. Check back often as more titles are added. Your next epic quest starts right here at Bookfinity.
Best New Fantasy Books October 2026
A Court of Splintered Harmony: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I
by Sarah J Maas
Romance, danger, and intrigue await you in the breathtaking sixth book in the #1 bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series.
What was broken will be remade.
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he's been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.
The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.
To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.
But to defeat Koschei's creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances. To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them.
As You Wake, Break the Shell
by Becky Chambers
Explore a universe of stubborn survival and found family, of persistent danger and quiet wonder in the first installment of a heartfelt new duology from Hugo Award-winning author Becky Chambers.
Life on the resource-poor planet of Fortune is challenging, but for its inhabitants, it's home. For two of them, Signy and Cora, this home might no longer be enough.
Signy is a brilliant but reclusive botanist who bio-prints medicine from her small plant shop, often bending the rules to help those the system leaves behind. Her life is filled with the green of her store, the warmth of her one elderly friend, and the quiet determination to help others without putting herself in danger.
Cora is a rorqual pilot, one of the few with the unique ability to navigate the massive, living ships that connect the scattered settlements of their solar system. Her bond with her rorqual, Colibri, is profound--a connection that is both her greatest gift and a threat to her career.
It is that threat--the "mindbleed," a dangerous side effect of her piloting--that brings her to Signy's shop, and her appearance puts Signy in the danger she so fears. But it's soon apparent it's not just about losing her license--this delicate balance between risk and trust has the potential to change everything for them.
Told in an alternating timeline of their initial coming together and a not-so-distant future where they have found domestic bliss, this is a story harrowing and haunting, heartfelt and hopeful. Through a love story centered around survival, we are given a glimpse into the very best of what Becky Chambers does in her writing: explore what it means to be human, and what it means to come together.
Bound and Unbound: A Paranormal Novella Duology
by Ali Hazelwood
New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood's intoxicating paranormal romance novella duology--together for the first time in print and ebook!
Read the captivating dark academia romance in Bound, then flip your book over to unleash the dangers of forbidden love in Unbound.
Bound: A reluctant con artist and a professor with too many secrets are bound by an arcane text--in more ways than one.
Veronica "Vero" Mercer grew up with grifters for parents, and she knows her way around a con. When grad school bills pile up and her friends are in trouble, she turns her art history skills into a forgery side hustle.
It's supposed to be a short term deal, but her work draws the attention of Dr. Viktor Ashworth, a reserved, very British professor. Instead of turning her in, Ashworth kidnaps her--politely--and makes an unusual offer: forge a mysterious ancient manuscript for him.
Soon Vero finds herself spending long nights with Viktor, bent over rare vellum samples and obscure inks. But as the con grows riskier, Vero has to wonder: what does Viktor really want, and why can't she stay away?
Unbound: A 5,000-year-old woman who has outlived empires. A doctor who has spent his life fighting death. Their fates collide in a blood game of vengeance.
Lilit of Nineveh has spent millennia in control. As a powerful revenant, she enforces one rule above all: protect mortals. Disciplined and focused, she has never made the same mistake twice, and she has learned that attachments can only lead to ruin.
Enter Roman Martin. An overworked and relentlessly kind ER physician, he is the one mortal Lilit cannot quit. Any relationship between them is against everything Lilit has fought for. Still, she keeps coming back to him.
Until someone starts hunting Lilit, and Roman is caught in the crossfire. When everything comes crashing down, Lilit must choose between the world she has sworn to protect and the man she was never meant to love.
Dark Reading Matter: The Last Thursday Next Novel
by Jasper Fforde
Will literary Special Ops agent Thursday Next find her happy ending? The outrageous, heartfelt conclusion to the New York Times bestselling series, which began with The Eyre Affair, will have you, Dear Reader, laughing out loud.
Ex-Literary Special Ops agent Thursday Next is embarking on her eighth and final fictional adventure, and she is well aware of the fact. The problem is, others are aware of it, too. Old foes and new are plotting a terrible revenge: to disrupt the narrative and make the last Thursday Next novel, Dark Reading Matter, not just unreadable but unpublishable. Thursday can't let that happen, and needs to use all her guile and narrative trickery to unmask the antagonists.
It won't be easy. The Martians have broken out of their H. G. Wells novel and threaten both the real world and the BookWorld. Agents from a higher reality want unfettered access to the Dark Reading Matter, the realm where deleted books and unrealized literary ideas end up. A Gateway to Hell has opened up at Wantage's Shakesmania, the nation's second-worst Shakespeare theme park, and the cozy world of Enid Blyton has been hijacked by ultra-right-wing nationalists. With Reality Field Distortion experiments going haywire, a partially redacted donkey, a BookWorld on the brink of losing its imaginative energy to Big Tech and a murderous stamp collector with philaticide on their mind, Thursday has to navigate a tightrope of borderline unusable narrative devices to bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.
It's a tall order, but Thursday has several secret weapons: her own adaptability; her husband, Landen; a host of stalwart friends and ultimately the most loyal compatriots she can call upon--her readers.
Other Worlds Than These: A Talisman Novel
by Stephen King - Peter Straub - Gabriel Rodriguez
Jack Sawyer, a beloved and enduring King protagonist, returns in the final book in the Talisman Trilogy, the #1 New York Times bestselling collaboration between "master craftsmen" (The Washington Post) Stephen King and Peter Straub.
"I wanted to go back to Mid-World, which was always the Territories by another name." – Stephen King
This is Stephen King and Peter Straub's epic and unforgettable finale to the Talisman Trilogy (including the novels Talisman and Black House) and a wrapping up of the fate of the worlds in King's iconic, fiercely beloved Dark Tower epic. It is also a magnificent stand-alone novel, that will appeal to new readers, as well as to King's Constant Readers.
Other Worlds Than These is the story of Jack Sawyer, whom readers first met when he was twelve, crossing America and "the territories" to save his mother's life, and met again in Black House, where Jack faces a child killer and the Crimson King (among other evils). In Other Worlds Than These, Jack must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds. Jack is older now; his Ka-tet (echoing the world of Roland) is fraying; and his task, nearly impossible.
Magnificent, riveting, full of heart, and humor, Other Worlds Than These is a spectacular, propulsive adventure, and features thirty-six exclusive black-and-white illustrations by artist Gabriel Rodriguez. The title instantly announces to readers who already know these other worlds that King has returned to them. Other Worlds Than These will appeal to new King readers and his Constant Readers.
The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City
by Susanna Clarke
From the bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
'He had already served three kings. He did not see why he should not be useful to a fourth.'
During the conquest of Northern England, the fairy host sweeps across the countryside. The city of Durham finds itself surrounded. But the encircling forces are not fairies, nor even other humans, but trees that trap the city within an eerie wood.
Ranulf, Bishop of Durham-a consummate politician-understands that the survival of the Northern English people depends on his finding a way to unite the two races, human and fairy. And he's not averse to improving his own position at the same time. With these aims in view, he sets off for the New Castle, in search of the new King-the leader of the fairy host, rumored to be a mysterious human boy, no more than fourteen years old, who speaks no word of any human language.
Set 700 years before the events of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City is a bewitching, must-have addition to any fantasy reader's shelf, featuring beautiful illustrations throughout.
The Scarlet Ball
by Nghi Vo
From USA Today bestselling author Nghi Vo, this all-consuming tale of ballrooms and bloodshed weds The Gilded Age with the Gothic vision of Guillermo del Toro.
Pick a face, pick a fate.
Judith Ban, former convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief, is on the lookout for her next identity. The daughter of a Vietnamese adventuress and a French naval officer, she's no stranger to risk, but she's unprepared for the secrets of New York's legendary Four Hundred, or for the women who build their power at the city's heart through blood-soaked, gold-etched rituals of demonic marriage.
In exchange for enough wealth to outrun her past, Judith strikes a deal with the matriarch of the powerful Howard family: she will stand in for the missing Howard granddaughter, who was poised to make her debut when she disappeared. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall's face stitched over her own, Judith is white, rich, and about to risk body and soul in the deadly games that determine which girls will find a match--and which will be devoured. If she can keep her wits and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power who will be hers to command...so long as she can keep his infinite hungers fed. But to survive the season, Judith will have to seduce a storm in the shape of a man, before the night to which everything has been leading--the Scarlet Ball where the demons choose their brides.
A razor-sharp subversion of romance tropes and nightmare of manners, Vo's fusion of history and fantasy does for Edith Wharton what her acclaimed debut The Chosen and the Beautiful did for F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The Slantwise Histories: Collected Stories
by Alix E. Harrow
Dive into a dazzling collection of short fiction from Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of The Everlasting and Starling House.
These are stories about the past as it wasn't quite, but might have been--or could still be.
These are stories about dreamers and liars and lovers and ghosts; people just like you.
These are stories about places the world has seen, and some that hide just beyond the periphery of possibility.
Most of all, these are stories for anyone who ever wanted more.
What's a legend, except a history told slantwise?
The Slantwise Histories: Collected Stories presents the best known short fiction of Alix. E. Harrow, including the Hugo-award winning "A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies" as well as five all-new stories. The collection also includes the author's preferred text of previously published stories "The Long Way Up", "Roadside Attraction", "Mr. Death", "The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly", "The Sycamore and the Sybil", "Do Not Look Back, My Lion", "The Whisper in the Weld", "Dustbaby", and Amazon Original short stories, "The Six Deaths of the Saint" and "The Knight and the Butcherbird".
The Tarot Trials
by Katee Robert
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Dark Olympus series, this high-octane, fast-paced epic fantasy of tarot magic and deadly competition launches an explosive new series perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab and Carissa Broadbent.
DELUXE EDITION--featuring gorgeous stenciled edges, designed endpapers, a foil case stamp, and a detailed map!
The deck has always been stacked against her.
Kestrel has trained her whole life to compete in the Tarot Trials. Her mother won once, earning a place among the five ruling Cinque--then paid for it with her life, executed for alleged treason against the Minor Court.
But fortune favors the bold.
Now it falls to Kestrel to take up her mother's mantle as Champion of the Moon, enter the Trials, and face her fate. If she can master her new powers of shadow and illusion, navigate the poisonous game of alliances and lies, and corner the fellow Champion who dealt the killing blow to her mother years ago, she may uncover the truth she's seeking without losing her head... or her heart. But in the Trials, betrayal is a question of when, not if. And winning the game isn't about what she must do to win, but who she needs to survive.
Victorious
by V. E. Schwab
The triumphant conclusion to the Villains series from V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.
Eli Ever. Victor Vale.
Two men, first best friends, then mortal enemies, each destined to be the other's shadow.
One left standing--but the game isn't over yet
Against all the years-and the odds--a group of allies and arch rivals meet on a chess board set by an opponent they couldn't have predicted... to see who will be victorious.
The Villains Series
What Happens at Nightfall
by Lauren Willig
New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig returns with What Happens at Nightfall, a delightfully Gothic romantic adventure, complete with a little bit of demon-hunting.
In the sprawling Gothic expanse of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, some secrets refuse to stay buried. Recently laid off and searching for purpose, Jess reluctantly joins her best friend on a supposedly fun nighttime cemetery tour. Separated from her group by accident, she discovers a bunch of terrified boys and a strange, ancient key. Both lead to Green-Wood's surprisingly handsome resident arborist, Adam Chervinsky.
Recently widowed, Adam has more to protect than the leafy residents of Green-Wood. His children, still dealing with the loss of their mother, are acting strangely. A haunting is afoot, and Jess seems to know more than she's letting on. Sparks fly between Jess and Adam--and the unquiet spirits of Green-Wood rise from their century-long slumber.
As Jess and Adam delve deeper into the cemetery's haunted history, they uncover a Gilded Age curse, a ghostly socialite, and a demonic pact that stretches across generations. What lies hidden in the Green-Wood's splendid Vanderwilt mausoleum? As the line between the living and the dead blurs, and the shadows of Green-Wood begin to stir with malevolent intent, Jess must confront not only the supernatural forces but a shocking connection to the past if she and Adam truly want to live happily ever after.
Wild Wicked Mate
by Laurie Gilmore
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore, comes a brand new small-town romance set in the quirky town of Maple Hollow!
The closer the proximity, the stronger the spark ...
Phoebe never expected to fall in love, and especially not with the annoyingly handsome werewolf she's been hanging out with for years.
Theo has spent his life comparing himself to his brothers, never quite matching up to his father's expectations. But in Maple Hollow, everything is different. Theo finally has a life of his own and a chance at redemption and he's reluctant to risk it for anything, or anyone.
But after years of fighting their attraction to each other, Phoebe and Theo find that denying their feelings is no longer possible. Especially when they end up on a road trip that might change everything...
Tropes:
- 🌙 Small Town
- 🌕 Fated Mates
- 🌖 Friends to Lovers
- 🌗 Spicy
- 🌘 Forced Proximity
- 🌑 Found Family
New Fantasy Books September 2026
Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare: A Graphic Novel (Marvel Arts)
by Kevin J Anderson - Raúl Allén - Patricia Martín
The latest book in the critically acclaimed, award-winning Marvel Arts line of stand-alone graphic novels curated by Alex Ross, featuring Doctor Strange in a psychedelic trip to the Nightmare Realm, brought to life by the creative team behind the national bestselling graphic novel adaptations of Dune
When Stephen Strange encounters a mysterious patient at his hospital who won't stop raving about how life is "nothing but the dream of a sleeping god," the rest of the world is suddenly struck with insomnia.
In order to prevent chaos from unfolding as the people around him become more and more desperate for sleep, Doctor Strange must embark into the mind of the madman who seems to have heralded this disaster, taking a psychedelic trip into the Nightmare Realm.
Kevin J. Anderson, Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín, the creative team behind our trilogy of bestselling graphic novel adaptations of Dune, reunite to combine their creative talents once again.
In this visually stunning, fantastical adventure that has shades of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo, Doctor Strange: Endless Nightmare explores the boundary between dreams and reality, combining forces with an unlikely ally in order to end a waking nightmare that threatens to destroy the world.
Galinda (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Charmed Childhood
by Gregory Maguire
In this sister volume to Elphie, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Gregory Maguire shares the eagerly awaited origin story of Galinda, the pink-clad, effervescent, and popular favorite character.
A deluxe limited edition hardcover featuring stenciled edges, designed endpapers, and more--is available for a limited time while supplies last!
Who was Glinda the Good Witch before she floated down in her bubble to greet Dorothy? Who was Glinda before she became Elphaba Thropp's magnetic and popular roommate at Shiz University?
Well, before then, she was Galinda. With a "ga."
The youngest of four children in a high-born family down on their luck, Galinda is both pampered and ignored. Her natural grace promises to elevate her in the district dance competitions--but these efforts distract her from seeing the growing resentments of local merchants who disapprove of her family's business strategies.
Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it. However, as her father deftly pivots around the snares and nets laid for him by his competitors, Galinda begins to dance toward a life that might lift her above her proud, if hardscrabble, childhood.
Galinda reveals the girl behind the bubbly, shallow cliché--offering fans of Wicked their first richer glimpse into the life of a beloved and iconic character.
Harbinger
by Geneva Lee
Arden Icaros was never supposed to matter. From the poorest of five noble bloodlines, she prefers life on the family farm with dirt under her nails over the fine dresses at court. She just needs to get through one boring ceremony, inherit her earth magic, and return home.
Instead, she's handed a dagger and with it, an impossible choice. Now Arden is branded an omen of war, half the nobility wants her dead, and assassins are tracking her every move. Her only chance of survival lies with the most feared man in Antares.
They call him Bishop. No one remembers the name he had before he dedicated his life to his order. Empowered to execute first and question later, Bishop is ruthless, terrifying, and utterly loyal to the kingdom that wants Arden dead.
He should kill her. Instead, he offers her sanctuary.
But the longer Arden stays under Bishop's protection, the more dangerous he becomes. Because Bishop has secrets powerful enough to topple kingdoms...and a need for Arden that could ruin them both.
Pictures of You
by Josh Malerman
A woman becomes the unknowing subject of an artist's dangerous work in this intense Hitchcockian thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Incidents Around the House.
After a magical night out on the town with her boyfriend Jack, Emily wakes alone in a huge bed in a beautiful, well-lit room. But the pink ceiling, the mauve walls, and the deep, dark corners are nothing like the hotel she and Jack rented.
More worrisome yet: Emily has no memory of this place from the night before.
Where is she?
A woman's voice directs her to remain in bed.
Just so ...
And beyond the end of the bed, a picture frame upon an easel--a frame with no canvas, no painting, no art.
Only ... there is the silhouette of a person Emily does not recognize. A person emanating demand, danger, evil. And the way the woman talks ... and the things she says ... She's acting as if Emily herself is the painting. The still life. The art.
Emily is as scared as she is confused. But it's immediately clear Jack's life is on the line with her own. And if she attempts to escape the bed and the wood frame of this nightmare masterwork, neither will survive the experience.
Emily is fierce, independent, brilliant, but to get out of this, she'll have to think like an artist herself.
The clock is ticking.
For Emily.
For Jack.
For being forever trapped.
Josh Malerman's unforgettable and terrifying Incidents Around the House became an instant classic of horror--and now Malerman has done it again. Pictures of You is a tale of thrilling terror that will chill you until the last page--and have you thinking of the heroine's search for love and the meaning of art long after.
The Rouse
by China Miéville
From the bestselling, award-winning master of uncanny fiction comes a defining work, twenty years in the making--a deeply moving, decade- and continent-spanning epic of personal grief, global tumult, and grim conspiracy.
Maur's life has been shaped by loss: an apparently ordinary tragedy. But in its aftermath arise deeper, stranger questions. Their answers may lie within the dark heart and darker history of an old soldier who shares Maur's obsessions and who is violently pursued by the same unknown, unquiet forces.
So begins a book unlike any other: at once an encyclopaedic and multitudinous saga of a bloody century and the intimate story of two lives, their loves, regrets, and secrets--and a terrifying journey into infinite mystery.
Tempest
by Victoria Aveyard
"A TRIUMPHANT, EPIC ADVENTURE." - Rebecca Yarros
From Victoria Aveyard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen, comes a romantic fantasy epic like no other in which a fallen noblewoman faces off against her former love--the last great pirate captain--amid a brutal war for the high seas.
Cat Rose knows what it is to live in two worlds, in two times. Before--as Lady Catrine Rose of the Meridian Empire, chained to a loathsome lord with a dwindling fortune. And after--as the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea, determined to be the master of her own fate.
But tides turn and winds change. The Meridian Empire looms on the horizon, the full weight of her navy falling on the Lyrian, bent on reclaiming the wealthy colonies and crushing the pirate republic once and for all. Ship after ship is captured, save for one, captained by a pirate who continually evades both noose and blade: the legendary Valerian Kane.
With his fearsome ship and uncanny connection to the song of the sea, Valerian is the only man who might rally the pirates who remain. The only man who threatens the Empire. And the only man Cat has ever loved, blazing in and out of her life like a star.
Desperate for victory, the Empire offers Cat a devastating choice: bring them Valerian or hang. In truth, no choice at all.
But Cat Rose is nothing if not a survivor.
A storm is rising on the Lyrian. What will it leave in its wake?
Threshing Day (Wing and Claw Collection)
by Rebecca Yarros
The next book in the blockbuster Empyrean series, Threshing Day contains 13 stories starring your favorite characters and their dragons. The deluxe first edition includes 16 beautiful original full-color illustrations by artist Joe Requeza. This breathtaking collectible is available only in the US and Canada while supplies last.
Related Books Recommendations for Fantasy Fans
If you enjoy fantasy, romantasy and epic world building, don't miss our Dragon Slayer Reading Guide for Summer 2026. If you're a fan of sci-fi, speculative fiction or dystopian novels, check out our book recommendations for Galactic Gurus for more titles to add to your TBR list.